Biting Off More Than I Can Chew

[rowyn]

So, after realizing it was likely I'd be reading all 20.5 of the Aubrey/Maturin, I stopped adding new books to my library queue. Because much as I like the Aubrey/Maturin novels, they are a slow read. Also, I just came back from a lovely six-day trip to Seattle, during which I did pretty much no reading at all apart from the flight out and back. And I decided to make an exception to my no-new-books rule and added Blameless, the sequel to Changeless. Also, I didn't remove any of the books that had been on the queue for weeks from it.

... I may have a few more books than I can read in a timely fashion at this point.

I am working on The Mauritius Command today, and might finish it tomorrow. I have two non-Aubrey/Maturin sequels that I really want to read (because the previous novels ended on a cliffhanger BOO) in my stack now. I have three more Aubrey/Maturin novels in the stack (collected in a single volume). I have one book that I need to return by Sunday because it's got a hold on it and can't be renewed. And seven other assorted novels that are at least not sequels so I'm not desperate to read them.

Clearly, I spent too much time on the plane writing and not enough time reading.

If I can get my Aubrey/Maturin novel-reading speed up to one every two days, instead of every three, I can probably read all 12 of my current pile before they're due back. Except maybe that one that's due back on Sunday. See, it's the first of a series. So I'm a little worried that if I start reading it, I will need to add Yet Another Sequel to the stack. c.c

On the whole, good problems to have, though. n_n Now, I have to get back to The Mauritius Command.

Comments

[alltoseek.livejournal.com]

You are so going to enjoy re-reading Aubreyad at a more leisurely pace. One in two days does not leave enough time to savour (or even notice) all the fun bits. But there's so much, OK, what happens next?!?! in the series it is nice to go through them quickly. Then the next time through you already know what's coming up, and can just enjoy the journey more.

POB has some cliff-hanging-ending issues too. Most critics and fans tend to think of the series as one long epic rather than a set of novels. Like LOTR, only even longer, and not so neat or complete an ending. A lot like life, really :-)

[rowyn]

Yes, the stories have much more of a 'chronicle of their lives' feel than the more typical narrative structure of a novel. Although The Mauritius Command has had more of a single-story feel to it than the last three.

[alltoseek.livejournal.com]

Yes, although the first followed the command of Sophie from beginning to end. PC bounced all over the place. HMSS followed the one mission, but the mission itself started well into the story. And also lots of subplots all over the place.

The rest of them are more or less like HMSS: one main mission/ship, but likely several other plots going on. Later in the series one 'mission' can end up spanning multiple books. Very interesting!

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

Three days is a slow read?

[rowyn]

When I first started going to the library again, it was only taking a day to read a book! I think I've slowed down to two days for most books, though.